Zhenxiang (Zeke) Chen

• SOC 2292 - Understanding Social Research
• SOC 4570 - Quantitative Social Analysis
• SOC 4580 - Social Research Methods
• SOC 7160 - Migration and Integration

Zhenxiang (Zeke) Chen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at the University of Manitoba. He received his PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
His research examines migration, inequality, and social mobility, with particular interests in life-course processes and how migrants’ perceptions, aspirations, intentions, and reference groups shape migration and integration. His current research in Canada includes a SSHRC-funded project on immigrants’ reference-group choices and a Research Manitoba-funded project on intercultural relations, tolerance, and inclusion. He uses quantitative, computational, survey, and experimental methods.

• PhD (Sociology), University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), 2021
• MA (Sociology), University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), 2018
• MPP, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), 2016
• BA (Economics, Mathematics, and International Studies), University of Wisconsin Madison, 2013

Research interests

• Migration
• Integration
• Life Course
• Social Psychology
• Transnationalism
• Social Stratification, Mobility, and Inequality
• Quantitative Methods
   

• Chen, Zhenxiang, and Chenyu Liu. 2026. “Revealing Migration Selectivity through the Combination of Intention and Preparation: Evidence from African Migration.” International Migration 64(3): e70157.
• Soehl, Thomas, Zhenxiang Chen, and Aaron Erlich. 2026. “Promises and Limits of Using Targeted Social Media Advertising to Sample Global Migrant Populations: Nigerians at Home and Abroad.” Sociological Methods & Research 55(1): 268–298.
• Chen, Zhenxiang, and Wanyang Hu. 2026. “Determinants and Consequences of Dual Frames of Reference among Rural-to-Urban Migrants in China.” Population, Space and Place 32(1): e70185.
• Hu, Wanyang, and Zhenxiang Chen. 2026. “The Role of Expectation Fulfilment in Migrants’ Return Migration Intentions: Encouragement or Deterrent?” Population, Space and Place 32(1): e70182.
• Chen, Zhenxiang, and Danan Gu. 2026. “Migrants’ Reference Group Selection: Insights from the Multidimensional Assimilation Framework.” Chinese Sociological Review 58(1): 84–116.
• Chen, Zhenxiang. 2025. “From Identity Integration to Civic Integration: A Multidimensional Framework of Integration to Unveil Pathways to Civic Engagement Through the Global Perspective.” Journal of International Migration and Integration 26(1): 25–51.
• Chen, Zhenxiang. 2023. “Economic Integration of Temporary and Permanent Migrants: Between Migrant and Return Migrant Status.” Habitat International 140: 102910.
• Chen, Zhenxiang. 2023. “How Legal Patterns over Lifetime of Migration Shape Migrants’ Labour Market Outcomes: Evidence from Mexican Migrants in the United States.” Population, Space and Place 29(5): e2658.
• Chen, Zhenxiang, and Xiaoguang Fan. 2022. “Intention and Perceived Control: International Migrants’ Assimilation in China.” Journal of International Migration and Integration 23(4): 2075–2100.
• Chen, Zhenxiang, Yao Lu, and Donald J. Treiman. 2022. “Determinants and Consequences of Rural-to-Urban Migration Patterns in China: Evidence from Sequence Analysis.” Population, Space and Place 28(2): e2493.
• Chen, Zhenxiang. 2021. “How the Choice of Reference Group Matters: Economic Integration of Rural-to-Urban Migrants in China.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 47(19): 4428–4456.
• Duquette-Rury, Lauren, and Zhenxiang Chen. 2019. “Does International Migration Affect Political Participation? Evidence from Multiple Data Sources across Mexican Municipalities, 1990–2013.” International Migration Review 53(3): 798–830.
• Chen, Zhenxiang, and Kayuet Liu. 2018. “Assimilation of China’s Rural-to-Urban Migrants: A Multidimensional Process.” Chinese Journal of Sociology 4(2): 188–217.